Eldrive EV charging

Overview
Project Summary Document
Environmental and Social Documentation
Procurement
Complaints

Overview

Provision of financing in the form of an equity investment of up to EUR 15 million in Eldrive Holding GmbH (the "Company" or "Eldrive"), a limited liability company incorporated in Austria. The EBRD's investment aims to support the Company's expansion of electric vehicle ("EV") charging stations in Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania (the "Project"). EBRD will invest alongside Renalfa Solarpro Group ("Renalfa" or "the Sponsor"), the current owner of Eldrive. In addition, the Company has secured a EUR 40 million venture debt facility from the European Investment Bank ("EIB").

Project ID 54542

Status Signed

Location

Regional

Business Sector

Transport

Notice Type

Private

Project timeline

Exploratory
Passed Concept Review
Passed Structure Review
Passed Final Review
Board Approved
Signed
Implementing
Completed

Company Contact Information

Stefan Spassov
office@eldrive.eu
+359 2 419 3476
https://eldrive.eu/
11-13 Yunak Str., floor 4, 1612, Sofia City, Bulgaria

Project ID 54542

Status Signed

Location

Regional

Business Sector

Transport

Notice Type

Private

Environmental Category

Approval Date

29 May 2024

Disclosure date

19 Mar 2024

Project description

Project objectives

Development of EV charging stations in Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania aiming to increase the availability of EV charging stations, accelerate the uptake of EV, and support the electrification and decarbonisation of transport in the countries of investment.

Transition impact

ETI Score:73

ject's Transition Impact derives from the following qualities:

Green: EBRD proceeds will be fully used for the deployment of EV charging stations in Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania.

Integrated: The Project intends to develop over 8,000 EV charging stations in the Project's countries in the next several years. Eldrive has a current network of over 1,000 EV charging points and is expected to be able to leverage its experience when identifying new sites in Bulgaria, Romania, and Lithuania to build an efficient network supporting green mobility across these countries.

Client information

ELDRIVE HOLDING GMBH

Eldrive is a leading regional EV charging point operator and e-mobility services provider in south-eastern Europe and the Baltic States.

EBRD Finance Summary

EUR 15,000,000.00

Total project cost

EUR 131,000,000.00

Additionality

With this investment, EBRD will help to fill a funding gap given the lack of adequate local equity markets. EV charging infrastructure projects have not been deployed in these geographies at scale so far, due to shortage in funding and expertise.

Environmental & Social Summary

Categorised B (ESP 2019). Environmental and social ("E&S") risks related to installation and operation of EV charging stations are site specific and can be managed by appropriate mitigation measures. The environmental and social due diligence ("ESDD") was carried out internally by ESD through review of the corporate questionnaires for the operating entities in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania and information provided by the Company. The ESDD showed that there is limited knowledge at the management team level, as well as focus on managing the environmental and social issues, outside the scope of the National legal requirements. Also, some of the existing policies and procedures are outdated or weak and will require further development and adaptation to meet the Bank's and stakeholders' requirements. The Company employs a low number of employees (7 to 20 within each region, about 45% of the workforce are female). The ESDD identified improvements required to the human resources ("HR") policies and procedures, including those covering health, safety, and labour standards, retrenchment, and grievance mechanism. The Company also needs to improve its supply chain due diligence procedures for the supply chain and labour conditions. A high-level HR policy is in place and for each worker there is a job description, but the written policy needs to address important elements such as commitments to diversity or human rights. The Company will need to strengthen its environmental, health and safety, and social ("ESHS") management systems in line with internal good international practice such as ISO 14001 or equivalent appointment of suitably qualified health and safety ("H&S") manager and implementation of systematic approach to managing H&S risks in line with ISO 45001. Additional occupational H&S training, risks assessments and occupational safety monitoring will be required. The Company will be required to develop a comprehensive H&S policy, as well improve the dissemination of the H&S requirements inside the Company. All of the above improvements are covenanted in the environmental and social action plan ("ESAP") which has been developed and agreed with the Company. The Bank will monitor the Project and the ESAP implementation through review of Annual E&S Reports and site visits as required.

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

N/A

Company Contact Information

Stefan Spassov
office@eldrive.eu
+359 2 419 3476
https://eldrive.eu/
11-13 Yunak Str., floor 4, 1612, Sofia City, Bulgaria

PSD last updated

08 May 2024

Understanding transition

Further information regarding the EBRD’s approach to measuring transition impact is available here.

Business opportunities

For business opportunities or procurement, contact the client company.

For business opportunities with the EBRD (not related to procurement) contact:

Tel: +44 20 7338 7168
Email: projectenquiries@ebrd.com

For state-sector projects, visit EBRD Procurement:

Tel: +44 20 7338 6794
Email: procurement@ebrd.com

General enquiries

Specific enquiries can be made using the EBRD Enquiries form.

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

The ESP and its associated Environmental and Social Requirements (ESRs) set out the ways in which the EBRD implements its commitment to promoting “environmentally sound and sustainable development”. The ESP and the ESRs include specific provisions for clients to comply with the applicable requirements of national laws on public information and consultation, and to establish a grievance mechanism to receive and facilitate resolution of stakeholders’ concerns and grievances, in particular, about the environmental and social (E&S) performance of the client and the project. Proportionate to the nature and scale of a project’s environmental and social risks and impacts, the EBRD also requires its clients to disclose information, as appropriate, about the risks and impacts of projects or to undertake meaningful consultation with stakeholders and consider and respond to their feedback.

More information on the EBRD’s practices in this regard is set out in the ESP.

Integrity and compliance

The EBRD's Office of the Chief Compliance Officer (OCCO) promotes good governance and ensures that the highest standards of integrity are applied to all of the Bank's activities in accordance with international best practice. Integrity due diligence is conducted on all Bank clients to ensure that projects do not present unacceptable integrity or reputational risks to the Bank. The EBRD believes that identifying and resolving issues in the project assessment and approval stages is the most effective means of ensuring the integrity of Bank transactions. OCCO plays a key role in these protective efforts andhelps to monitor integrity risks in projects post-investment.

OCCO is further responsible for investigating allegations of fraud, corruption and misconduct in EBRD-financed projects. Anyone, either within or outside the Bank, who suspects fraud or corruption should submit a written report to the Chief Compliance Officer by email to compliance@ebrd.com. OCCO will follow-up all matters reported. It will review all matters reported. Reports can be made in any language of the Bank or of the Bank's countries of operation. The information provided must be made in good faith.

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

The AIP, which entered into force on 1 January 2025, sets out how the EBRD discloses information and consults with its stakeholders to promote better awareness and understanding of its strategies, policies and operations. Please visit the Access to Information Policy page to find out what information is available from the EBRD website.

Specific requests for information can be made using the EBRD enquiries form.

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)

If efforts to address environmental, social or public disclosure concerns with the Client or the Bank are unsuccessful (for example, through the client’s project-level grievance mechanism or through direct engagement with Bank management), individuals and organisations may seek to address their concerns through the EBRD’s Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM).

IPAM independently reviews project issues that are believed to have caused (or to be likely to cause) harm. The purpose of the mechanism is: to support dialogue between project stakeholders to resolve environmental, social and public disclosure issues; to determine whether the Bank has complied with its Environmental and Social Policy or the project-specific provisions of its Access to Information Policy; and where applicable, to address any existing non-compliance with these policies, while preventing future non-compliance by the Bank.

Please visit the Independent Project Accountability Mechanism webpage to find out more about IPAM and its mandate and how to submit a Request for review. Alternatively, contact IPAM by email at ipam@ebrd.com for guidance and more information on IPAM and how to submit a request.

Environmental and Social Documentation is not available for this project.

Selected procurement notices related to this project may be shown below. Further procurement opportunities related to this and other projects, if available, maybe be viewed in the EBRD Procurement Portal.

The EBRD's Environmental and Social Policy (ESP), Access to Information policy (AIP) and Project Accountability Policy (PAP) enable sound and sustainable development in its projects. The Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM) deals with complaints about environmental, social and disclosure matters related to the Bank’s investments.

No complaints about this project have been made so far.

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Eldrive EV charging

Overview

Project timeline

Company Contact Information

Project description

Project objectives

Transition impact

Client information

EBRD Finance Summary

Total project cost

Additionality

Environmental & Social Summary

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

Company Contact Information

PSD last updated

Understanding transition

Business opportunities

General enquiries

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

Integrity and compliance

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)